Frostpunk Game Review

 To begin with, I must warn you about several features of Frostpunk: The Board Game.

 First, the game is difficult. Very difficult. This is not a bug, but a feature. After a dozen games, I realized that I always had ways to get out of a sticky situation at hand - I just didn't notice them in time. You just need to learn to play better.

 Second, the game is very dark. I was not very pleased to read about children freezing to death. Others may be affected by cannibalism or other unpleasant acts to which people may descend in a hopeless situation. In my opinion, the author should be praised for beautifully transferring the gloomy atmosphere of the computer game to the table, but keep in mind.

BRIEF REVIEW AND WHY BUY THIS GAME

 This game stands alone in my collection of 300 boards. She is absolutely unique. Complicated, heavy, time-consuming and desk-space-intensive, but I love it. Perhaps, of all my games, it most deserves a ten. After her, "Twilight of the Empire" is the closest to the top ten, since the party in "Twilight" is a whole event. So far, Frostpunk is the only co-op that has surpassed Spirit Island for me.

 If you want a challenge, want a beautifully beautiful and highly replayable delight that tells exciting stories and beats you mercilessly, then Frostpunk is for you.

IS THE GAME WORTH ITS PRICE?

 I purchased the deluxe all-in and it was definitely worth it. However, I've become a big fan of the game, so if you're on a tight budget, it might be worth sticking with the Frostlanders add-on. All other add-ons only slightly improve the game and add more atmosphere to an already excellent game.

 Is the game worth the time spent mastering the game and long games? In my opinion, yes. Even if your friends aren't interested in Frostpunk, it's great to play solo, and each game will be memorable for a long time. Of course, if the game does not start and you constantly lose without understanding why, then Frostpunk will cause you only irritation. But if you adapt to this apparently unfriendly pleasure, then all the effort will pay off when you rejoice at the first victory.

FULL REVIEW

 Desktop Frostpunk is a great adaptation of the computer game. I played the PC original, but it's not necessary to understand it at all to enjoy the tabletop version (just like you don't have to watch the Battlestar Galatica series to enjoy the board game of the same name).

 The action of the game begins after the end of the world. This time, the culprit was not zombies, nuclear war, or a shortage of iPhones, but the cold.

  The action takes place in an alternative steampunk universe. You control a group of survivors who have reached a house-sized generator designed to combat the cold. The game begins as soon as you move into a new house, and all kinds of troubles immediately fall on you from all sides. Your task as city leaders is to keep everything under control.

 At its core, Frostpunk is a game about worker placement, hand and resource management. However, it does not immediately become obvious that resources include not only material, but also "spiritual" indicators: a place for construction, time, morality, the number of sick and dead... Interesting.

 Your job is to collect enough resources to keep the fire going (literally) and explore the surrounding area to mine materials and expand the building site. You will have to build shelters, grow or forage food, maintain morale and health at the appropriate level. You will also be able to change the rules of the game by issuing new laws and developing technologies. Each batch will have 8 standard laws (4 pairs of two mutually exclusive directions to choose from) and another 4 randomly drawn from the general pool. In total, a party can have a maximum of 4 laws. Technologies are also drawn randomly (4 pieces). I like the randomness and how the laws have a significant impact on the game. At first glance, this is a small thing, but it greatly increases replayability: in each game, a new puzzle awaits you.

 So far, we have not managed to pass all 4 laws or develop all 4 technologies in any party. We usually pick the 2 most useful ones and limit ourselves to that. You have to make difficult decisions, especially when choosing technologies, because you have to take into account how long their development takes and how useful they will be at the time of study. After all, there's no point in studying heating for explorers if you've already explored the entire map, right?

 A new event awaits you every morning. As a rule, you will have to face its consequences later. Every night you suffer one of these consequences and regret your earlier decisions).

 You also have a hand of random town cards that give one-time bonuses. It is important to correctly apply them as early as possible, because their, at first glance, insignificant effects can greatly increase your winning chances. Therefore, the solo gameplay will be slightly different from the cooperative gameplay: the number of cards with bonuses and the speed of their application significantly affects the course of the game.

 There are many interesting and offensive ways to lose, but winning is very difficult. On the other hand, victory is very gratifying. As a rule, losses are associated with the townspeople losing hope in one way or another, so try to keep them happy.

COMPLEX DECISIONS

 The fight for survival in Frostpunk: The Board Game is very exciting. You always lack actions for everything you want (however, this is not so rare in tabletops), but even if there were enough actions, there would not be enough resources, or free space, or time... You will inevitably have to make difficult decisions about what to give priority. We really want to do A or B, but have to do B instead, because otherwise we're probably out.

 If you neglect one of the aspects of the city's development for a long time, then soon (maybe not immediately, but after a move or two for sure) you will realize what a mistake you made, but it will be too late.

 The game often teases you, offering short-term gain at the cost of long-term consequences that may or may not materialize later. Excellent motivation to take risks and flirt with fortune, hoping that the consequences will not respond to you. It is very thematic, unfortunate and exciting to know that somewhere in the deck there is a running bomb waiting for you, and to consider whether it is worth preparing for its explosion or you can wait another turn and do other things. You should also not forget about the tower with coal cubes: remember how many cubes are left there, and decide whether it's time to repair it (cleaning the accumulated cubes), or risk overheating.

 It may seem that remembering such an elementary thing as how many cubes we threw into the tower and how many stuck there is very simple, but you will have so many problems in your mind that you will often forget. Great job, Adam Kwapinski, simply stunning.

DEATH SPIRAL

 If you've played Frostpunk, you know what I'm talking about. About the midgame. The moment when you have enough strength to maintain a stable situation, but never develop. Chances are, you're already running out of supplies, or you're getting an extra sick person every turn.

 The midgame, in my opinion, is where you lose or win. If you only stabilize the situation, it will not be enough to win. The temperature will decrease with each step, the generator will be stressed more and more. Problems accumulate. If you fall behind or simply do not develop, then the game will kill you. If not now and not on the next turn, then in a few turns. It's just that you are still suffering.

 Judging by my limited experience (I've managed to win 4 times so far), you have to act thoughtfully, choosing the least evil. Develop A, sacrificing B, when you are sure that you can deal with the consequences of B later. Allow starvation and put up with the fact that a couple of townspeople will die (if, of course, the level of morality allows). Build a sawmill that you, in theory, cannot afford. Burn in a desperate situation with the last firewood to get coal. Make a risky decision to clear the snow.

 It was for this game that we had the most memorable, albeit long, brainstorming sessions. We weighed the available options, minimaxed and argued. It was wonderful.

 I think Shut Up & Sit Down's Quentin Smith was saying that in a good co-op you should feel like you could have won when you lose, and that you could have lost when you win. Since Frostpunk is very hardcore, I think most people will agree with at least half of this suggestion)

 It's also worth noting that because of the serious consequences of your actions, Frostpunk encourages flexible behavior. In this game, you can't decide before the start: "Let's build a wall drill earlier this time / replace working machines". You can't decide, "Last time we died because there wasn't enough food, so let's focus on producing food this time." This will only lead to another defeat. You can't say: "I will never / always accept this law," because their value is always different in different parties. Yes, we used a charcoal stove and child labor in the last batch, although I don't like either. But in this batch, the value of wood (which is the most valuable resource in the early game) dropped because we found a lot of wood. And child labor became valuable because we didn't have any good cards for children and the total number of workers was small. In addition, we were offered to choose what the consequences of the adopted law would be, which further increased the value of child labor. In the end we won. It's just amazing.

 Another favorite board game that punishes greed and haste is the little-known space exploration game Leaving Earth. It has a great "try your luck" mechanic: when you learn a new technology, you put 3 cards on it from a large deck of possible consequences. When using a technology, you draw a card that causes the novelty to work, break, or explode, killing all living things. And every time you swipe a card, you can pay from your small budget to remove it or replace it. As soon as there are no cards left on the technology, it is considered to be used — and there will be no further problems. But is it worth paying if you only get lucky cards? And how many tests are you ready to conduct before sending a rocket into space? What are the chances that there is a negative result left in the deck? And who's to blame when a rocket explodes halfway through? Great game with great mechanics. Frostpunk is similar in this way: you decide how much to risk, and then regret (or not regret) the consequences.

 There is a lot of fiddling in Frostpunk: The Board Game, but the randomness doesn't affect the game as much as I expected. You know in advance how much food you will need in the next few turns (at least roughly). Similarly with diseases. In addition, you decide whether to treat diseases or try to prevent them. There's just enough randomness in the game to keep it from becoming a solvable puzzle, but not so much that you're completely at its mercy.

 Yes, I had to lose due to a bad The Inevitable card (on turn 9, damn it), but that's more proof that I was right: I knew it was in the deck. I didn't know exactly when she would appear, but I was the one to blame for the defeat, because I could have decided to cure seriously ill people. Similarly with social events: it is advisable to remember them when they are mixed in the deck, and then with a high probability you will get a favorable result or at least avoid particularly unpleasant consequences.

 Overall, I love the tabletop Frostpunk and will definitely never part with the game.

CONCLUSIONS

 Frostpunk is not a cheap game, especially with all the add-ons. It also takes up a lot of space on the table. The rules seemed clear to me, but they raise many questions for others. I recommend that before the first game, you read several times how the mechanics of hope and dissatisfaction work; if they are interpreted incorrectly, it will greatly affect the gameplay.

 It was best for me to play together. Solo Frostpunk is also great to play. I haven't tried with 3 or more players yet, but I suspect the party time will increase significantly. Also, solo and 2-player games are significantly different, as you can play more townspeople cards, but the negative consequences are also more noticeable. Everything is balanced.

 The game looks great on the table and generates exciting themed stories. Availability of miniatures of houses is questionable. Many believe that they are a lot of fuss or that they clutter up the field and the nicer look isn't worth it.

 I thought the central cube generator tower was too big for the table, so I put it aside. I didn't really want to do it, because it looks chic, but here everyone chooses what is more important — convenience or aesthetics.

 The flexibility is very high: different starting layout (the changes are kind of trivial, but have a strong impact on the course of the game), 6 different societies, 3 levels of difficulty (with the help of Frostlanders), several scenarios. So if you are not going to play it to the holes, replayability is enough for your eyes. And even if you flirt, by then it will more than pay off the money spent, right?

 Personally, I like to think long and hard about the decisions made, to minimax, considering what is more important - the last piece of coal or one more sick citizen, and to feel deep satisfaction when everything turns out well and we win. So for me Frostpunk is a great game.